A new heavy metal stage at Glastonbury Festival will be “confrontational, chaotic and loud” says the organiser.

Earache Express, curated by independent label Earache Records, will be a new addition to Glastonbury’s Shangri-La area for the 2017 event, and will be bringing a different kind of energy and edge to the traditionally DJ dominated late night party.

Organiser Dan Tobbin has given Somerset Live an exclusive lowdown on the new stage, that will bring “two disparate worlds together”.

He said: “It will be confrontational, chaotic and loud, we have to compete with so much more going on in Shangri-La, and we will stick out like a sore thumb.

“It will cause debate, this is going to be interesting and impactful.

“Shangri-la is where the maddest, noisiest people who don’t want to go to bed go after the main stages close down, and we are hoping to add some more madness and some more noise to the party.”

Shangri-La at a previous Glastonbury Festival (Image: PA)

Shangri-La, Glastonbury’s hedonistic and vibrant party field, is a cacophony of art, sculptures and political ideals, and has always been the playground of DJ’s and electronic artists, until now.

A shakeup for 2017 has seen the Heaven and Hell theme of past years ditched for a new “Environ-mental” theme, and heavy metal is joining the party.

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A festival announcement on the Shangri-La re-vamp reads: "Giant Towers of Trash now dominate the Shangri-La skyline, and structures have formed from the scrap, dwellings made of detritus, art from the embers.”

Among the new structures that have emerged is an old tube carriage, which will play host to heavy metal bands from across the world as ‘Earache Express’.

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Mr Tobbin said: “So, basically the stage will be inside a 60ft old tube carriage, which is just so Glastonbury, it’s so wacky and different.

“The festival actually suggested this, and when they first mentioned it to me, I was a bit disappointed, I was thinking more a proper stage, but as they were explaining it, they were basically laying down the challenge saying ‘I bet you can’t do this’, and I said ‘yes we can’.

“We have risen to the challenge, it will be great fun.

“There will be four bands a night, 16 in total, and we have had so much interest in this, one band is coming all the way from the US just to play this gig.

“It’s wacky, it’s a bit leftfield, but it also is a great thing for some of these metal bands to play Glastonbury, and I’m sure it will open a lot more doors for them.”

Napalm Death are performing at the Glastonbury Festival (Image: PA)

Bands already confirmed for Earache Express include Extreme Noise Terror, Steve Ignorant and Wormrot, who will be the first Singapore-based band to play the festival.

Legendary metal band, and founders of grindcore, Napalm Death, who were once signed to Earache Records, will also be playing the festival, performing on the Truth Stage, the main stage at Shangri-La.

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Mr Tobbin said: “Glastonbury absolutely loved the idea of Napalm Death playing, they fit the festival like a glove, they are political and have a message, they have something to say.

“It all started when Michael Eavis came to watch one of our other bands, a southern rock band called Blackberry Smoke at Glastonbury last year, and we managed to connect with the festival and asked ‘wouldn’t it be great if we could do a metal stage at Glastonbury’?

“When the festival heard that they could get Napalm Death their brains started whirring, and we began to organise things.

“Now, people are coming to us and saying ‘how the hell did you do that'? (put on a metal stage at Glastonbury)

“Metal music really has been a glaring omission over the years at the festival, and we actually feel a little bit of pressure, we want to impress Glastonbury enough and make enough noise, literally, that they invite us back.

“The heavy metal scene already has its own events like Bloodstock and Download, but it is very rare to see it at other festivals.”

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Although the likes of Metallica, Motorhead, and Enter Shikari have performed in recent years, the stage will be a bold new venture for Glastonbury Festival, which has traditionally shied away from heavier acts.

Mr Tobbin said: “From the top, Michael and Emily (Eavis) are really excited about this, they are always trying to keep the festival fresh, and this is something new and different.

“All the music Earache has done over the years has been confrontational, we will not be putting on cheesy metal acts, we are picking bands that fit with the Glastonbury message, bands with something to say.”